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Tuesday, 10 December 2013

My attackers
deserve to be punished and I hope they will be punished adequately and will get
what they deserve,” says Lt General Kuldip Singh Brar (retd), who led the 1984
Operation Bluestar.

“I feel no sorrow for them,”
he adds saying he is aware that the attackers who had launched a murderous
assault on him in London had been indoctrinated as they had otherwise been
quite young at the time of the operation that took place over 29 years ago.

While speaking to The Tribune,
Lt General Brar, who was attacked by four Sikh youths on the night of September
30, 2012 while on a vacation with his wife on a street in central London, says
he will never go to the UK again. The quantum of punishment for the four
convicts, comprising three attackers and a woman accomplice, is scheduled to be
announced by a London court tomorrow.

“I love the UK but would like
to avoid going there. I am not keen anymore (to visit the UK). There is no fun
in going to a place where you have to keep looking over your shoulder and
watching your back and ending up becoming wary each time you see someone
suspicious,” says Lt General Brar who, as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 9
Division in the rank of major general, led Operation Bluestar, which involved
Army troops entering the Golden Temple, to forcibly evict Jarnail Singh
Bhindranwale and his armed militia that had been spreading terror in Punjab at
that time.

The Army lost 83 soldiers,
including four officers, while another 248, including 13 officers, were wounded
in the operation, which Lt General Brar describes as his Army career’s “most
difficult” and “traumatic” assignment.

Lt General Brar is also averse
to visiting the Golden Temple. “I have never been there after Operation
Bluestar. I have seen it at its worst and there was no religious sanctity
whatsoever then. Operation Bluestar restored the sanctity. Visiting the Golden
Temple will bring back all sorts of memories, some unhappy which I would not
like to relive. I am aware there is a lot of anger against me.

Why revive that anger by going
there?” he says adding that he will not entirely rule out ever visiting the
Sikh shrine.

Life for Lt General Kuldip
Singh Brar has changed “hell of a lot” and “is no longer as comfortable as it
used to be”. Travel has become “severely restricted” for the retired Lieutenant
General who’s security has been upgraded to Z-plus.

From earlier being able to
drive off in his micro-sized Nano car to either meet his friends or shop at
will, Lt General Brar now has a revised security setup comprising both police
commandos and Army men who follow him every time he steps out of his house
located in the high-security Navy Nagar here.

Crowded places are often
avoided and his travel plans out of Mumbai are well-coordinated. He now has to
inform the Army a week in advance for every domestic travel and three weeks in
advance for every travel overseas. Yet Lt General Brar hasn’t stopped
travelling - he has twice travelled overseas since the attack.

Lt General Brar is full of
praise for the doctors who attended on him after the attack, the
professionalism of the police and prosecution, and the speed with which the
courts have tried the case. “The entire process - from investigation to trial -
was completed in 10 months. Here it would have taken years and nothing would
have happened,” he says.

Lt General Brar, who declined
to go to the UK to depose when approached by the London Metropolitan Police,
appeared before the court through video conferencing - a rare if not an
altogether first time hookup for an Indian by a court overseas.

The linkup was done at the Taj
Hotel, incidentally a major scene of the 26/11 attacks by Pakistani terrorists,
over three days from July 16 to 18.

He was examined for a couple
of hours each day - first by the prosecution and then by the defence. The sole
person present in the room was an official from the London Metropolitan Police
who only assisted with the video linkup equipment.

His wife was examined once on
the last day. Both were not allowed together into the video link room and were
asked not to discuss the case among themselves during the days the proceedings
were on. “We honoured that,” said Mrs Brar.

Lt General Brar, who was
stabbed in the back, on the cheek and the neck, has since fully recovered from
the attack except for some numbness in the neck area which is expected to
disappear with time. During the video conferencing, he was handed a sketch of
the scene of the attack and shown a detailed CCTV footage of his movements of
that evening.

The defence, he said, asked
him questions about Operation Bluestar with the intent of building a case that
it had caused a lot of anger and hurt among the Sikh community. At one point,
the defence even asked whether he had been the first to attack the convicts.

During the video link, Lt
General Brar says he could see the judge, the prosecutor lawyer, three defence
lawyers and some media men in the background but never the accused who were
convicted without his having to identify them. The UK is quite harsh in dealing
with terrorism and their message is that they will not allow such activity, he
says adding that there continues to be a lot of propaganda eulogising
Bhandranwale and Khalistan overseas.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131210/nation.htm#7

House committee for review of golf courses on
defence land

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 9

Parliament’s top
audit screening body — the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) — has asked the
Ministry of Defence (MoD) to review its policy of allowing golf courses on its
land and has separately come down heavily on the MoD asking how property valued
at Rs 11,000 crore was fetching a ‘meagre’ annual rent of Rs 2.13 crore.

The PAC, headed by
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, in its report on “Defence estate management”
tabled today said, “The committee deplores the gross misuse of golf courses and
recommends that the entire policy of the golf courses be revisited
comprehensively and appropriate remedial action taken to ensure that the
recreational facilities needed for the armed forces are not misused or abused
in any manner.”

Terming it an
‘unauthorised use of defence land for golf and other activities’, the PAC said,
“Golf cannot be considered a military activity. Under the Cantonment Land
Administration Rules, 1937, the recreation grounds which are not strictly
reserved for the use of troops alone can’t be used for golf courses.”

The committee said
it was surprised to note that in 2004, the Chief of the Army declared golf as a
sports activity. The Chief had directed that no commercial activity would be
undertaken on the golf courses such as sponsoring golf tournaments by corporate
entities.

The committee
said, “It was shocked to find that defence authorities had been offering
membership of the golf courses to civilians on payment basis so much so that in
places like Delhi, even foreign diplomats were being given membership. The
revenue generated from the civilian membership was not being credited to the
government account.”

On leases &
encroachments

Commenting on the
management of leases, the committee said that as on March 2010, some 2,500
acres valuing Rs 11,033 crore was on lease for an annual rent of Rs 2.13 crore
which is a pittance considering the market value of the land.

“There are no visible efforts
to renew 3,780 cases of lease renewal. In 1,800 cases, no requests were
received for lease renewal and in 1081 cases, the status of leases was
unknown”.

Separately dealing with the issue
of encroachment on defence land, the PAC said non-mutation of land records and
non-utilisation of vast tracts of defence land only encouraged encroachment.
These encroachments had increased from 6,903 acres in January 1997 to 14,539
acres in July 2009.

The committee found that clubs
and parks established for the benefit of defence personnel and their families
are exploited by civilians for organising parties, marriages, exhibitions, etc.

“Worse, the proceeds from such
events are not being credited to the government’s account. There are instances
of illegal constructions on such parks”. The PAC has asked the MoD to set up an
inquiry in the matter.

The audit scrutiny had centred
around: Lacunae in application of land norms, variations in records of actual
land holdings, computerisation of defence land records, mutation of defence
land, non-utilisation or underutilisation of acquired land, commercial use of
land, encroachment on defence land, unauthorised use of defence land for golf
and other activities, defence land being used for schools, unauthorised use of
defence land for parks and clubs, payment of compensation, dismal state of
management of leases, cases of delay in renewal of leases and irregularities in
management of old grant sites.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131210/nation.htm#15

AFT relief to Army docs not granted service
extension

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News
Service

Chandigarh,
December 9

The Armed Forces
Tribunal (AFT) has quashed policy amendments under which service rules were
altered retrospectively, thereby denying extension of service and grant of
permanent commission to many short service commissioned officers in the medical
branch.

Disposing of a
bunch of petitions, the Tribunal has held that the impugned policy was bad in
the eyes of law and could not be sustained. Holding the petitioners eligible
for grant of extension in terms of the earlier policy that was in vogue before
the impugned policy, the Tribunal has also quashed the release orders of the
doctors and directed the Defence Ministry to consider their cases for grant of
permanent commission.

The petitioners
had claimed that the extension of the tenures of short service medical officers
would be automatic subject to fulfillment of laid down criteria, which they all
complied with. They had also received a letter in 2001, informing the same.

In 2012, however,
a new policy was issued, stipulating that the extension would not be automatic
but selection based and also changing the eligibility criteria. In November
last year, the cases of 97 short service officers were commissioned and 47 were
rejected.

They contended
that they had joined the Army Medical Corps (AMC) on the specific assurance
that their extension was automatic as long as they fulfilled the earlier
criteria and that the new policy, which was made effective retrospectively by
linking it with merit-cum-availability of vacancies, operated unequally among
short service officer who were similarly placed. They added that even though
the vacancies were available, the respondents, on some arbitrary reasoning,
decided to release experienced officers.

The vacancies in
the AMC for short service officers had been reduced by 50 per cent and there
were to be replaced by fresh recruits.

The observations

The AFT has quashed policy amendments
altering service rules retrospectively

The tribunal held the policy was bad in the
eyes of law and could not be sustained

The policy denied grant of permanent
commission to many short service commissioned officers in medical branch.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131210/nation.htm#16

DRDO losing its trained scientists, says
Antony

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 9

Defence Research
Development Organisation (DRDO), tasked with producing military equipment,
continues to lose scientists involved in crucial development projects. A total
of 443 scientists resigned from the DRDO during 2008-2012 whereas another 44
scientists quit during 2013 (till November 30), Defence Minister AK Antony told
the Parliament today.

Actually, there is
a healthy decline in the number of scientists quitting over the previous five
years. In April 2008, Antony had told the House that a whopping 1,107
scientists had put in papers between 2003-07.

Antony revealed
that the scientists have cited personal and domestic grounds as the reasons for
quitting the DRDO. “However, it is assumed that the increased opportunities and
incentives available in other organisations and industries is the main reason
of such resignations,” Antony’s reply said.

He listed the
incentives announced to discourage the exodus. These include two additional
increments on promotion to each grade, up to six variable increments on
promotions granted on fast track and professional update allowance to all
scientists.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131210/main5.htm

J-K Legislative
Council panel summons Gen VK Singh

Tribune News
Service

Jammu, December 9

The Privilege
Committee of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council today decided to ask
former Army Chief General VK Singh to appear in person before it on January 9
to explain his position on allegations that politicians in the state were paid
by the Army.

The decision was
taken in a meeting of the Privilege Committee held here today under the
chairmanship of Jugal Kishore Sharma and comprising MLCs Devender Singh Rana,
Ravinder Kumar Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Ali Mohammad Dar and Showkat Hussain
Ganai.

The privilege
motion against VK Singh was moved by MLCs Ajay Sadhotra, Devender Singh Rana
and Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardy in the last session of the council taking
cognisance of his allegations during a TV interview. The other privilege
motions moved by the Legislators were also discussed.

NEW DELHI: The
ball has been set rolling for the Army to raise a new mountain
"strike" corps with two "independent" infantry brigades and
two "independent" armoured brigades, totalling over 80,000 soldiers,
along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

While the Cabinet
Committee on Security (CCS) on July 17 had cleared the new mountain corps and
brigades, as was then reported by TOI, the defence ministry has now issued the
"government sanction letter" to the Army for the new raising to be
undertaken.

The new corps — the 1.13-million strong Indian
Army already has three "strike" corps among the 13 such formations
but they are largely geared towards Pakistan - will eventually have its
headquarters at Panagarh in West Bengal.

The new formation
to be called 17 Corps, along with its infrastructure, will come up over seven
years at a cost of around Rs 90,000 crore. "Officers and soldiers are
already being earmarked for posting to the new corps," said an official.

With additional
armoured regiments and infantry units based in Ladakh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand,
the new mountain corps will for the first time give India the capability to
also launch a counter-offensive into Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in the event
of a Chinese attack.

As part of the
overall plan for "major force accretion" along the "northern
borders" with China, two new infantry divisions (35,000 soldiers and 1,260
officers), have already been raised at Lekhapani and Missamari in Assam in
2009-10. Their operational tasking is the defence of Arunachal Pradesh, which
China often claims as its territory.

The new corps,
with two specialized high-altitude divisions for "rapid reaction force
capability in mountains", will add to all this. This will give India,
which for long has focused on the land borders with Pakistan, some offensive
teeth against China as well.

This is critical
because China has "aggressively'' strengthened its military capabilities
in TAR, with at least five fully-operational airbases, an extensive rail
network and over 58,000-km of roads. This allows China to move over 30
divisions (each with over 15,000 soldiers) to the LAC, outnumbering Indian forces
by at least 3:1 there.

In 20 years, 124
Army men held guilty of rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir

As many as 124
Army personnel, including 41 officers, have been found guilty of human rights
violations and awarded exemplary punishments in the past 20 years in Jammu and
Kashmir.

"As many as
124 personnel, including 41 officers, found guilty of these violations were
expeditiously tried by Army courts and awarded exemplary punishments ranging
from dismissal from service without any service benefits to imprisonment
(during last over 20 years)," PRO, Ministry of Defence, Northern Command,
Lt Col Rajesh Kalia said today.

During the past 20
years, 1,524 allegations of human rights violations against Army personnel
serving in Northern Command have been received, Lt Col Kalia said.

"Each and
every allegation was enquired into by an independent and autonomous body and 42
of these allegations were found to be true," he said.

The Indian Army
has one of the finest record for ensuring that human rights of its citizens are
protected and the importance given to human rights is evident from the fact
that a human rights branch at the Army headquarters has been functioning since
March 1993 and such branches exist in formations up to Brigade and Sector
level.

"There are a
few ongoing cases which are being closely monitored, ensuring Rule of Law and
proceedings as enunciated by the Army Act," Lt Col Kalia said.

"Anyone found
guilty shall face the law. This amply demonstrates that all cases of alleged
human rights violations are thoroughly investigated and personnel found guilty
are promptly punished," the Defence PRO said.

ISLAMABAD: US defense secretary Chuck Hagel
arrived in Pakistan on Monday for meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and
the nation's new army chief, hoping to further repair a strained and sputtering
relationship between Washington and Islamabad.

His visit comes on
the heels of the latest interruption of US military shipments out of
Afghanistan through the main border crossings into Pakistan. Anti-American
protests along the route in Pakistan prompted the US to stop the shipments from
Torkham Gate through Karachi last week, due to worries about the safety of the
truckers.

The protests
centre on the CIA's drone program, which has targeted and killed many
terrorists but has also caused civilian casualties. Pakistan has called the
drone attacks a violation of the country's sovereignty, but the issue is
muddied by the fact that Islamabad and the Pakistani military have supported at
least some of the strikes in the past.

The Pakistani
government blocked the routes for seven months following US airstrikes that
accidentally killed two dozen soldiers on the Afghan border in November 2011.
Pakistan finally reopened the routes after the US apologized.

The rift led the
US to sever most aid to Pakistan for some time, but relations were restored in
July 2012. Since then, US has delivered more than $1.15 billion in security
assistance to Pakistan, including advanced communications equipment, roadside
bomb jammers, night vision goggles and surveillance aircraft.

A senior defence
official said these issues will come up in Hagel's meetings, and acknowledged
the lingering tensions between the two countries. Over the past year, relations
between Washington and Islamabad have been improving, and Sharif met with
President Barack Obama and Hagel in late October in Washington.

Hagel is expected
to tell Pakistani leaders that the US wants the border crossings to remain
open, said the defence official, who was not authorized to discuss the private
meeting plans publicly and requested anonymity.

US has also been
frustrated by Pakistan's unwillingness to target the Haqqani terrorist network,
which operates along the border and conducts attacks on US and coalition troops
in Afghanistan.

Defence officials
said Hagel will be the first high-ranking US official to meet with General
Rahaeel Sharil, who took over as head of Pakistan's powerful army at the end of
last month.

Following their
meeting in Rawalpindi, Hagel and Sharil echoed each other's desire to work to
strengthen the countries' relationship.

The last Pentagon
chief to visit Pakistan was Robert Gates in January 2010.

Hagel flew to
Pakistan from Afghanistan, where he visited US troops but declined to meet with
President Hamid Karzai, who has rankled the US by refusing to sign a security
agreement before year's end.